title: Health-related quality of life, depression and anxiety correlate with the degree of hirsutism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hirsutism has a negative impact on women's quality of life. The relation between quality of life, anxiety, depression and the level of hairiness has not been described.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the correlations between the levels of hairiness, quality of life, anxiety and depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  200 patients from Malmö, Örebro and Uppsala, who had been in contact with the clinics for problems with excessive hair growth, were invited to answer a self-administered questionnaire including sociodemographic questions, EQ-5D index score, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Ferriman-Gallwey scale (F-G); of these, 127 women participated in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean values were: EQ-5D index 0.73 (SD = 0.27), EQ visual analogue scale 61.0 (SD = 22.6), HADS-anxiety 9.5 ± 5.3 and HADS-depression 6.5 ± 4.6. The mean DLQI was 11.8 ± 8.4, indicating a very large effect on patients' lives. All were significantly correlated with the amount of hairiness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher levels of hair growth were significantly correlated with a lower level of quality of life and symptoms of both anxiety and depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: M Palmetun
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ekbäck
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benzein
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Årestedt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006628:Hirsutism / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult